![Bradley Wiggins say he would ‘love to still be part of [cycling] in the future’ and does not know whether or not he will retire.](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/e83d825f66e7ccb8872109ab8a997eec029c9311/0_240_3500_2101/master/3500.jpg?width=620&dpr=2&s=none)
Bradley Wiggins hinted at extending his cycling career after finishing second in the London Six Day with Mark Cavendish on Sunday.
Wiggins and Cavendish, Madison world champions at the Lee Valley VeloPark in March, finished as runners-up to Kenny de Ketele and Moreno de Pauw of Belgium in the exhibition event.
Wiggins quipped “money talks” when he was asked if he could be persuaded to return in 2017, adding: “I’ve enjoyed it that much, I just don’t know at the moment. I’d love to still be part of it in the future. I still love riding my bike, I love racing.
“Who wouldn’t want to come back, with a week like this and the crowds like this? It’s been incredible.”
For now at least the 36-year-old’s career finale comes in Ghent, the city of his birth, in the Six Day event from 15 November.
Wiggins was racing for the first time after a period he described as “topsy-turvy”. Data stolen by Russian hackers, the Fancy Bears, from files held by the World Anti-Doping Agency showed Wiggins received three therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) for the anti-inflammatory drug triamcinolone – a substance which has a history of abuse in cycling and is otherwise banned – on the eve of the 2011 and 2012 Tours de France and 2013 Giro d’Italia.
The 36-year-old, who in 2012 became the first British winner of the Tour, and the Team Sky principal, Sir Dave Brailsford, strenuously deny wrongdoing, insisting the injections were medically necessary to deal with a pollen allergy that aggravates Wiggins’ long-standing asthma condition. The TUEs had the approval of the UCI, cycling’s world governing body, and there is no suggestion any rules were broken.
There is also an ongoing UK Anti-Doping investigation into allegations of wrongdoing in cycling, something that followed reports that a package was delivered to Team Sky at the June 2011 Critérium du Dauphiné, then Wiggins’ most significant road victory. He raced for Team Sky until April 2015.
Team Sky deny wrongdoing, and, like British Cycling, are cooperating with the investigation, which Wiggins has welcomed.
Wiggins again declined to speak to the media at Sunday’s event but addressed the crowd from the central stage where he was awarded numerous prizes as one half of a crowd-pleasing partnership with Cavendish.
The pair won Sunday’s first event, the Derny race, where riders take it in turns to shelter behind a pilot on a motorised bike and go faster than they otherwise could. With four laps to go Wiggins did his best jockey impersonation, pretending to whip the Derny pilot, Michael Vaarten.
The Madison chase concluded the event and Cavendish and Wiggins led entering it. But De Ketele and Moreno de Pauw continually attacked and Cavendish and Wiggins missed a vital changeover as they fell narrowly short of victory. Cavendish is eager for a reverse result in Ghent.
“We know we’re in top condition and we know we can go to Ghent with good condition and ready to win,” he said.
Ghent will mark the conclusion of a phenomenal season for Cavendish, who finished second in the road race at the Road World Championships, claimed the yellow jersey for the first time at the Tour de France and claimed a first Olympic medal with silver in the omnium.
“I’m having two days at Disneyland next week and that’s my holiday with the family,” he said.
